Me and my first KnödelI am tagging along with American Expat and other expat Germany bloggers in working our way through the cookbook "Die Echte Deutsche Küche" for the Real German Cuisine Challenge.
Our first week's attempt is Semmelknödel mit Pilzen (link to recipe here), which is known, in Bayern, as Rahmschwammerl. Delicious, plus, I had never made my own Knödel before, and if my destiny is anywhere near becoming a German Housewife (he he) then I'd better master this one.
The ingredients
I started by cutting everything: chopping mushrooms, whizzing onions and parsely through the food processor, then soaked the bread in the warm milk.
Then, I cooked everything for the dumplings and had a blast forming them into lovely bready spheres (kind of like making a snowball. I had to fight an urge or two to throw one across the room) and plopped them into the boiling salt water (but not before making a cute little "test dumpling" to make sure they didn't fall apart).
The sauce cooked up quite nicely and I (unlike Amiexpat) did use Shitake Mushrooms, along with Austerpilzen and rehydrated dried mushrooms Artur and I got as a gift from his relatives in Poland (hand gathered, of course). It cooked up nicely and had lots of flavour, and the lemon juice was a lovely touch. I didn't need anything to thicken it—I just let it cook off for a while.
Overall rating: delicious, fairly easy, and very authentic. This will go on my list of German meals to make for my family when I go home. I can't wait for next week's Rahmgulasch (Creamy veal goulash).
Our first week's attempt is Semmelknödel mit Pilzen (link to recipe here), which is known, in Bayern, as Rahmschwammerl. Delicious, plus, I had never made my own Knödel before, and if my destiny is anywhere near becoming a German Housewife (he he) then I'd better master this one.
The ingredients
Then, I cooked everything for the dumplings and had a blast forming them into lovely bready spheres (kind of like making a snowball. I had to fight an urge or two to throw one across the room) and plopped them into the boiling salt water (but not before making a cute little "test dumpling" to make sure they didn't fall apart).
The sauce cooked up quite nicely and I (unlike Amiexpat) did use Shitake Mushrooms, along with Austerpilzen and rehydrated dried mushrooms Artur and I got as a gift from his relatives in Poland (hand gathered, of course). It cooked up nicely and had lots of flavour, and the lemon juice was a lovely touch. I didn't need anything to thicken it—I just let it cook off for a while.
Overall rating: delicious, fairly easy, and very authentic. This will go on my list of German meals to make for my family when I go home. I can't wait for next week's Rahmgulasch (Creamy veal goulash).
8 comments:
Looks like you enjoyed wating it as much as we did! Awesome! I love your final pic. Your presentation was a little more sophisticated than mine.. :)
@yelli... haha, it was a blast! I was just happy i had those fancy schmancy bavarian style plates... dressed it up a bit. I enjoyed reading your rendition too!
That looks delicious!
If only I could convince Zach that mushrooms are not the devil...
@allison
yeah, the bread dumplings sound weird to most americans but they're really yummy. you can actually serve them as a side dish with anything, especially something saucy. It's a great way to use up leftover bread!
Those look delicious. I think it is a great idea about the challenge. I might have to join in. I love German food!
jessica, you should! it's a real motivation to finally try all those recipes i have thought too intimidating-- and now i can impress my family at home with "authentic" dishes. and all that cream... it just makes it all the yummier :)
great job! Thanks for the comments on making the dumplings more dense - I am going to try it again with some french rolls that I just bought once they get old!
I am sure that it will work better the next time - I won't shy away from using another egg and more flour/breadcrumbs!
@stephanie maybe i just lucked out. Actually, i totally cheated because i didn't use day old bread... I just bought a bag of "Knödelbrot" at the store. Maybe that was my secret to success...
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